This was just a fleeting visit to make a contribution. Hope the Mudcat is going well - I've been drying out for almost three months but as we know the Forum is very addictive.

Carol C, the improvisation technique is clearly aimed at the right hand of your type of instrument. I would encourage you to experiment to your hearts content with your left hand. As you know the traditional approach to box playing is fairly predictable with emphatic dependence on the root note of the chord for the bass line, but variation adds musical spice. A lot of younger Celtic players are now playing non-folkie chords/chord progressions to accompany tunes and for mr that's really exciting. I for one would love to see some written arrangements for trad tunes that have less conventional chord structures.

Regards, John

PS My new email is johninbrisbane@lycos.com